Video: Morsi defiant in speech, protests erupt again in Cairo

posted at 8:01 am on December 7, 2012 by Ed Morrissey

Perhaps Mohamed Morsi thought that a show of strength and resolve in a nationally-televised speech to his Egyptian subjects would impress them enough to stop protesting his “temporary” seizure of dictatorial power. If so, the President-turned-Pharaoh miscalculated — perhaps badly. After a defiant speech in which Morsi accused protesters of being Mubarakites, the streets again filled with angry Egyptians, who have begun to use the same chants about Morsi that they once used about Hosni Mubarak (via Instapundit):

An angry Mohammed Morsi refused Thursday to call off a referendum on a disputed constitution that has sparked Egypt’s worst political crisis in two years, drawing chants of “topple the regime!” from protesters who waved their shoes in contempt.

The Egyptian president’s uncompromising stand came a night after thousands of his supporters and opponents fought pitched battles outside his Cairo palace, leaving at least six dead and 700 injured.

Speaking in a nationally televised address, Morsi accused some in the opposition of serving remnants of Hosni Mubarak’s authoritarian regime and vowed he would never tolerate anyone working for the overthrow of his “legitimate” government.

That brought shouts of “the people want to topple the regime!” from the crowd of 30,000 Morsi opponents — the same chant used in the protests that brought down Mubarak.

Morsi also invited the opposition to a “comprehensive and productive” dialogue starting Saturday at his presidential palace, but gave no sign that he might offer any meaningful concessions.

The opposition has already refused to engage Morsi unless he first rescinds decrees giving him nearly unrestricted powers and shelves the draft constitution hurriedly adopted by his Islamist allies in a marathon session last week.

Thousands of Egyptians took to the streets after Friday midday prayers in rival rallies and marches across Cairo, as the standoff deepened over what opponents call the Islamist president’s power grab, raising the specter of more violence.

The opposition has now formed an umbrella group, the National Salvation Front, to organize opposition to Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood. They have named former IAEA chief Mohammed ElBaradei as their leader, and ElBaradei blasted Morsi’s speech:

Speaking on the new umbrella group’s behalf, ElBaradei responded to Morsi’s speech in his own televised remarks, saying that Morsi’s government showed reluctance in acting to stop Wednesday night’s bloodshed outside the palace. He said this failure has eroded the government’s legitimacy and made it difficult for his opposition front to negotiate with the president.

ElBaradei said Morsi has not responded to the opposition group’s attempts to “rescue the country” and that the president had “closed the door for dialogue” by “ignoring the demands of the people.”

After Friday prayers, protesters began marching to the palace from several different directions.

The April 6 movement, which played a key role in sparking the uprising against Mubarak, called its supporters to gather at mosques in Cairo and the neighboring city of Giza to march to the palace. They termed Friday’s march a “red card” for Morsi, a reference to a football referee sending a player off the field for a serious violation.

The Muslim Brotherhood isn’t lying low, either:

Also on Friday morning, thousands of Brotherhood members gathered in Cairo outside the mosque of Al-Azhar, Egypt’s most respected Islamic institution, for the funeral of two members of the fundamentalist group who were killed during Wednesday’s clashes.

During the funeral, thousands Islamist mourners chanted, “with blood and soul, we redeem Islam,” pumping their fists in the air. “Egypt is Islamic, it will not be secular, it will not be liberal,” they chanted as they walked in a funeral procession that filled streets around Al-Azhar mosque.

This sounds like a recipe for a major street fight. That may force the Egyptian army into an uncomfortable choice sooner rather than later.

All war is hell and this is one possible civil war the Instigator in Chief will be able to take full credit for. My heart aches for all those innocent people of Egypt who will have their lives turned upside down or taken from them. The world is devolving into chaos and the big guy on the block (America)who has been there for almost a century to keep things in check is now actually very responsible for feeding this animal and taking countries and countless lives with it.

I’m in favor of letting the Egyptians have at it. Winner take all. I am also in favor of putting a complete stop to any and all forms of aid, in particular $$$. Let them choose their own lifestyle and support it on their own.

During the funeral, thousands Islamist mourners chanted, “with blood and soul, we redeem Islam,” pumping their fists in the air. “Egypt is Islamic, it will not be secular, it will not be liberal,” they chanted as they walked in a funeral procession that filled streets around Al-Azhar mosque.

This is everything Egyptians need to know about the current regime. And if they don’t want to be living with the same kind of tyranny that Iranians do, they need to remove the Muslim Brotherhood from power. This is an organization which has lied to them again and again, most notably when they claimed they wouldn’t be going after the presidency.

Democracy is nothing but mob rule. That is, unless there are constitutional protections in place which protect the rights of the minority. This is the key bit of information that people unfamiliar with democracy appear to be lacking.

Wow. I am torn. I usually hope both sides lose in this type situation, but it seems these protesters maybe are decent. They don’t want sharia, and they don’t want islamist rule. I guess that means they do not deserve our help.

November’s report beat expectations, but revisions for the prior two months don’t look so hot. October was revised down to 138,000, from the initially reported 171,000 figure. September was also moved lower to 132,000 from 148,000.

That’s a huge revision for October. I wouldn’t be surprised to see November get one next month as well. If we’re adding an average of 150,000 jobs per month the last 3 months, the only reasons the rate would be dropping are A)more BS household surveys being used to lower the number or B)people continue to drop out of the workforce in droves.

I was among the first to predict, on record, that nothing good will come out of that fabled Arab Spring. And I would, again, suggest that we limit our involvement to selling cheap outdated weapons and plentiful ammo to both sides, and sit quietly while problems solve themselves.

Yesterday someone linked a photo of a protester carrying a sign that said “OBAMA, your b!tch is our DICTATOR!” I guess he isn’t as loved throughout the world as he thinks.

Night Owl on December 7, 2012 at 8:41 AM

The rat-eared wonder isn’t loved throughout the US as much as he and the parasites who support him think. I’ve never hated a US President as much as a detest this Kenyan bastard and any of the moochers who voted for him. It is going to be a long and hate-filled four years.

Yesterday someone linked a photo of a protester carrying a sign that said “OBAMA, your b!tch is our DICTATOR!” I guess he isn’t as loved throughout the world as he thinks.

Night Owl on December 7, 2012 at 8:41 AM

The rat-eared wonder isn’t loved throughout the US as much as he and the parasites who support him think. I’ve never hated a US President as much as a detest this Kenyan bastard and any of the moochers who voted for him. It is going to be a long and hate-filled four years.

Happy Nomad on December 7, 2012 at 8:51 AM

I predict that unless major changes occur, the name Obama will be reviled throughout history – maybe not right now or in a few years, but when the full import of what he intends to bring upon this nation and the world is fully known and it happens his name will rank down their amongst the lowest of the low figures from history.

I predict that unless major changes occur, the name Obama will be reviled throughout history – maybe not right now or in a few years, but when the full import of what he intends to bring upon this nation and the world is fully known and it happens his name will rank down there amongst the lowest of the low figures from history.

I predict that unless major changes occur, the name Obama will be reviled throughout history – maybe not right now or in a few years, but when the full import of what he intends to bring upon this nation and the world is fully known and it happens his name will rank down there amongst the lowest of the low figures from history.

Galt2009 on December 7, 2012 at 9:07 AM

I have a feeling this little under achiever might not have to wait that long. I suspect it will happen before he leaves office. But that’s just me.

I was among the first to predict, on record, that nothing good will come out of that fabled Arab Spring. And I would, again, suggest that we limit our involvement to selling cheap outdated weapons and plentiful ammo to both sides, and sit quietly while problems solve themselves.

Archivarix on December 7, 2012 at 8:41 AM

Predicting disaster out of the Arab spring was as easy as predicting the sunrise. I think the only people who didn’t see it coming were our politicians and the multiculturalists of Europe.

I predict that unless major changes occur, the name Obama will be reviled throughout history – maybe not right now or in a few years, but when the full import of what he intends to bring upon this nation and the world is fully known and it happens his name will rank down there amongst the lowest of the low figures from history.

Galt2009 on December 7, 2012 at 9:07 AM

I have a feeling this little under achiever might not have to wait that long. I suspect it will happen before he leaves office. But that’s just me.

Night Owl on December 7, 2012 at 9:12 AM

Amongst those who have long since realized who he is and what he is doing this will be the case – although there very well could come a time where such expressions will be kept under wraps for fear of the knock on the door SWAT team breaking it down…

But this will only serve to cement this perception in everyone as the years go by.

Who cares? I would like to know how long before Americans march on 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. and the Congress. Marching “to” implies we want the rat-eared wonder to stay in power. I want to see the man personally and professionally destroyed starting with removing him from power for his crimes against this country.

I’ve never been more ashamed of this country than I am right now. We have serious problems that need leadership and vision and a bunch of selfish greedy parasites have managed to corrupt our politics over such silly stuff as the “right” of sluts like Sandra Fluke to force others to pay for her birth control.

At the risk of making a bigoted observation, those folks sure like to fight. I’m starting to think that fomenting internal strife in all these Mid-East countries might be a legitimate security plan for us.

Hey, where are all the trolls acknowledging Obama’s ownership of this debacle?

(If ever there were a ready made copy & paste universal comment, that would be it – so feel free to do so)

Galt2009 on December 7, 2012 at 9:43 AM

The threads dealing with Benghazi or the Middle East are remarkably troll free. They know they can’t blame this on anybody but the rat-eared wonder in the White House and his administration and it’s positions are indefensible.

Obama will speak no evil of Islam and that bears some examination. Who is he going to favor during this Arab Autumn, the secularists or the radical Islamists.

“The future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam,” he told the UN.

He looks down on those who “cling to their Bibles and their guns.”

Note the use of the term “clinging.” It is usually applied to those holding something that should be discarded. Bible-clingers are hopelessly passe.

I doubt he truly believes the precepts of any religion, but it is clear who he favors on the world stage. He grew up with Indonesians and hoodwinked Occidental, Columbia, and Harvard into treating him as an exchange student.

The mess is only going to grow, and woe to the gun-clingers who handle our national security.

The Egyptian people probably realize that should they let the MB seize power in their country, it wouldn’t be long before they made rubble out of the sphinxes and pyramids.

TMOverbeck on December 7, 2012 at 11:18 AM

Well, that’s what modern Egyptians need to remember… that their civilization predates the Islamists. The ones who are attempting today’s tyranny aren’t substantially different from their 7th century forebears. Islam is, and has been for centuries, an invading culture. They need to shuck it off and remember that Egyptians were civilized back when the rest of the world’s human population was still hunting and gathering.

So, honestly America, how does it feel to see the Egyptian People acting like Americans, fighting for Freedom from Tyranny? I mean, now that America has grown so enlightened, we act like the French & Surrender, under similar circumstances, can you look at people who wish for & fight for FREEDOM & not regret how easily you could spin the circumstance to make yourself feel smarter or more intellectual, without trying too hard? The Cow & Sheep have decided that the rest of the world or the Sun even, can be covered by a thumb. Are you now smarter? Are you now more Intellectual & enlightened? Well, leave me to the ignorant. I will deal with those who are not COWARDS and say, “More Power To The Egyptian People!” May Cowards & Hypocrites deal with those thousands of Deaths! They are well deserved!
LIVE FREE OR DIE!

Thanks for the link. I listened to both video clips and yes the Scripture quotation is apt. I’ve read Walid Phares’ conversion statement to Christianity. Phares has good insight and understanding of what is going on, not only over in the M.E., but here.

I don’t know the answer to his question of Why, but B.O. only does anything that benefits himself above all and to those ends he works.

The Egyptian protesters want Freedom and not a Dictatorship, either under Mubarak or Morsi. Replacing one Dictator with another one, clearly shows the people were deceived. Now they have had their eyes opened and are protesting.

HotAir.com posts NOTHING on Pearl Harbor Day to commemorate the horrific Japanese surprise attack on the American Naval Fleet in port at Pearl Harbor leaving 2,402 Americans killed and 1,282 Americans wounded — many of them civilians.

Pathetic.

This website has gone to crap ever since Michelle Malkin sold out to the highest bidder.